Temporary Captain
by androidilenya
Summary: Forty starships went to fight the Borg at the Battle of Wolf 359. Thirty-nine were destroyed. This is the story of the USS Melbourne, one of the first to go. Rated K-plus for exploding starships. Oneshot.


**Short random story. Hope you like it.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, except maybe the characters I stuck on the _Melbourne_. Heck, even the ship ain't mine. Based Star Trek: Next Generation episodes 'The Best of Both World Parts One and Two'. Remember that ship Riker was supposed to take command of...?**

**All relevant data from Memory Alpha (who knows what we humans did before the Internet).**

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Stardate 44002

U.S.S. Melbourne, _Excelsior_-class

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It was on days like this that Commander Audra Phillips wished that her captain had not died and left her with the command of this ship. She wasn't the best with command decisions. In fact, because the twenty-one year old woman was about as unqualified for the position of captain as one could get was exactly why Admiral Hansen had promised a replacement for the ancient Captain Dohay, who had been killed two weeks before his retirement party on an ill-fated diplomatic mission.

But, of course, the slotted replacement for the kind old man had yet to accept the position. And because William Riker refused to step up and actually become a starship captain, Audra was stuck in the command chair today.

And, _of course_, today was the day that the Borg decided to attack the Federation. That was just how these things worked, right?

The U.S.S. Melbourne, an _Excelsior_-class vessel, had been ordered to join thirty-nine other starships at a star called Wolf 359, about 7.8 light years from Sector 001- in other words, Earth. There was a Borg cube on the way. And it had defeated the Enterprise, that heretofore presumably undefeatable vessel.

All in all, it just didn't look like the beginning of a very _good_ day.

The turbolift door behind her swished open and she twisted in her seat to see her science and tactical officer, Lt. Larysa, enter. The Betazoid nodded at the captain with a smile and took her spot at the back of the bridge. Audra smiled, relieved. As long as Larysa was here, it was okay. Her best friend would always be there for her.

"Admiral Hansen reports Borg cube e.t.a. in five minutes," the scared looking ensign called from the ops station. This was probably his first real battle, and the stress was starting to show on his face. Not that the rest of the bridge crew wasn't also afraid at the moment- experience had simply taught them to be better at hiding it.

"Confirmed," Larysa added calmly from the science station.

They had already gone to red alert about half an hour ago, the pulsing red light casting blood-hued shadows across everyone's faces. Audra found her hands clenching involuntarily around the armrests of the captain's chair and forced herself to relax.

"Weapons status?" she heard herself asking, voice remarkably steady.

"Phasers ready. Photon torpedoes ready. We're about as prepared as we're going to get, sir," Lt. Commander Stal, the tactical officer, reported. The Denobulan was calm as ever, something that Audra was grateful for.

"Thank you, Commander." Now all they had to do was wait.

Those five minutes were both the longest and the shortest of her life. On one hand there was the hyperactive feeling, that stressed buzz that she always got before something big, be it an Academy exam or a battle or a speech. Part of her couldn't wait for the actual fight to start, so she could get it over with. But at the same time there was a deep dread that made her want to delay and stall and get the hell out of here, because from what she had heard about them, these Borg were freaking _scary_. She didn't want to fight them.

_Oh, I really wish that Captain Dohay hadn't died... I'd be in the first officer's seat instead of this one..._ She had had no idea how it felt when the captain had sat here- he had made it seem so easy. But the pressure of having all these lives depend on the decisions that _she_ made was... terrifying, to say the least.

She hadn't ever really wanted to be a captain. Supporting someone older and wiser than her from the chair to her right was much more her style.

"Sensors say there's something coming, sir," Larysa said suddenly, shattering the tense silence that had descended over the bridge.

"The cube?"

"It's too soon to tell, but I'd say yes."

"Phasers ready?" she asked, trying to mask the slight quaver of fear in her voice.

"Ready when you are, captain."

_Captain. That's not a title I deserve. I'm still just a commander, I shouldn't be here in this seat..._

Then the image on the viewscreen flickered, the fleet of starships replaced by a monstrosity. A pale face, a _horribly familiar_ face, with metallic implants and a blank, empty look in its eyes, filled the screen, making the poor little ensign at the front yelp.

"Sir, that's... that's-" Larysa trailed off, voice choked with horror and shock.

"I know, 'Rysa." This man was a legend at the Academy, in Starfleet, throughout the Federation. But it seemed that this was that man no more. This was an enemy.

Then it- she couldn't call the thing on the viewscreen a _him_ anymore- spoke. "_Resistance is futile. Disarm your weapons and escort us to sector 001. If you attempt to intervene, we will destroy you."_

Just as suddenly as it had appeared, the face disappeared from the viewscreen, leaving only the view of a gigantic Borg cube that seemed to dominate the field of battle before it even fired a shot.

"Now what?" the ensign up front asked, laughing nervously but looking completely and utterly freaked out.

"Need you even ask?" Stal grinned fiercely. "We attack!" The tactical officer had an unusually agressive look on his face as he stared at the controls in front of him.

Audra smiled and nodded, feeling a bit like a captain for the first time. "Bring us into firing range. Lieutenant?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Fire at will."

"Yes, sir!" He sounded almost excited.

Unfortunately for the hundreds of Starfleet officers on the _Melbourne_, the Borg cube didn't even wait for the ship to fire a shot before loosing a virulent green cutting beam, vaporizing the top half of its saucer section- including the bridge. Bodies tumbled through the void, weightless and dying, along with mangled pieces of starship.

The explosion blotted out the captain's world in a swirl of orange and red and black flame, heat crushing her like something physical. Larysa and the ensign at the front were vaporized before her very eyes.

Audra Phillips, first officer and temporary captain of the _Melbourne_, didn't even have time for a last thought as the Borg cube rammed through the flaming remains of her starship.

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**Review please. And merry Christmas~**


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